A Good Guy (Or Gal) With A Gun – Mass Shootings Stopped By Civilians

This page will track mass shootings stopped by citizens with firearms other, generally, than the police.

Got any candidates for inclusion on this page? Leave them in the comment section. Comments will be removed if off-topic, and when I’ve decided if the episodes should be included or not.

No photo yet.

Oklahoma City, OK, 5/24/2018 – A man walked into a restaurant in suburban Oklahoma City and opened fire, wounding four, before being engaged and killed by an armed citizen. Was it going to be a mass spree killing? As this is written, we don’t know – and we don’t have to, because the good guy won.

Sutherland Springs, TX, 11/4/17 – Told by his daughter that Devin Kelley was in the midst of massacring 26 people at a small baptist church in this small Texas town, Stephen Willleford grabbed his AR15 and engaged, hitting Kelley twice. Then, when Kelley broke off his attack and fled, Willeford and another man chased him until he ran off rthe road an killed himself.

Austin, TX, 5/2/17 – Details on this are sketchy as this is written, but apparently a student with a carry permit scared off a man with a knife after he’d killed one and injured three. The media – especially in Austin – can be expected to downplay any positive result from a student carrying. Reading between the lines? The student is the hero.

Conyers, GA, 5/31/15: When Jeffrey Scott Pitts walked into the Magnet Package Store, he started randomly blazing away, killing two. Todd Scott returned fire, driving Pitts from the store; he was killed later in a shootout with police. The county sheriff praised Scott, saying there was no doubt he saved more lives.

Chicago, IL, 4/20/2015: 23 year old Everardo Custodio began blazing away at a crowd of people at Logan Park in Chicago – a crime that stood every chance of becoming just another tragic but unreported weekend mass-shooting in Chicago. A 47 year old Uber driver with a hard-to-obtain Chicago carry permit returned fire, though, felling Custodio and foreshortening what authorities believes was intended to be a spree killing.

Philadelphia, March 22, 2015: “He responded and I guess he saved a lot of people in here” said Philly police captain Frank Llewellyn about an unidentified man who shot and killed another man, who’d responded to an argument at a west Philadelphia barbership by pulling out a gun and blazing away at random. “It could have been a lot worse”. The shooter was hailed as a hero.

Dr. Silverman – Hero.

Darby, PA 7/25/14 – Richard Plotts, a patient with a history of causing trouble opened fire at a psychiatric clinic, killing a case worker and wounding three more people, including Dr. Lee Silverman (pictured) – who, wounded several times, drew his own permitted handgun, shooting Plotts. Police credited Silverman with saving many lives.

Chattanooga, TN, 7/16/2014 – When Mohammad Youssef Abdulazeez attacked a Navy Reserve station, he’d already killed four Marines at a recruiting station nearby. The post’s commander, Lt. Commander Timothy White, opened fire with his personal handgun. As this is written, the investigation is underway – but let the record show that although there were more disarmed targets at the Navy Reserve station, the death toll was one. Along with Abdulazeez. I’m pretty confident that the record (once it escapes the Obama administration’s clutches) will show LTCDR White saved many lives that morning.

July 7, 2014: There were many, many shootings in Chicago over the July 4 weekend in 2014; it was a typical bloody weekend, all things considered. But in one of the shootings, 22-year old Denzel A. Mickiel started blazing away at a group of people on the street, wounding one of them. But in a plot twist, one of those people was a young military veteran with a brand-new Chicago carry permit. Mickiel went down before he could hurt anyone else.

Jacob Roberts

Portland, OR, 12/11/2012 – Jacob Roberts, 22, walked into the Clackamas Town Center mall – a gun free zone – in suburban Portland with a stolen AR15 and 150 rounds of ammunition. He killed two people and wounded another before his rifle jammed. There, citizen Nick Meli drew his legal, concealed handgun and pointed it at Roberts – who, as law enforcement notes is usually the case when their plans are interrupted, withdrew into a nearby store and shot himself with his un-jammed rifle.

Early, TX, 8/1/12 – Charles Conner murdered two people and their dogs at an RV park in rural Texas before Vic Stacy took him out.

William Allabaugh

Plymouth, PA, 9/10/2012: William Allabaugh was asked to leave Bonnie’s Bar in Plymouth for making racist and homophobic slurs. Instead, he pulled a gun and shot two men, killing one and giving the other permanent brain damage, before a citizen – identified (probably inadvertently) as Mr. Kiter returned fire with his legal handgun. Allabaugh received a 25-to-60 year sentence.

Atlanta, GA, 5/2/2009 – Two men walked into a party in Atlanta, and began robbing the partygoers and, eventually, raping the women. Sean Barner retrieved a gun from a book bag, killing one assailant/rapist and wounding and scaring off the other (who later convicted of murder in his accomplice’s death).

Winnemucca, NV, 5/24/2008: Ernesto Villagomez walked into a bar crowded with 300 people, and started shooting, in an episode that may have stemmed from a family feud. He killed two before a civilian with a carry permit killed Villagomez.

Tyler, TX, 2/5/2005 – David Arroyo murdered his wife with an AK47, and intended to murder his son, when Mark Wilson, a carry permittee, intervened, shooting Arroyo. Arroyo was wearing body armor, which allowed him to kill Wilson – but Wilson’s action is credited with saving the son, and likely others.

Appalachian School of Law, 1/16/2002 -Peter Odighizuwa, a former student at the school, killed three and wounded three more before two students, using weapons they weren’t supposed to have at the “gun-free” school, apprehended him.

Harris and Klebold, shortly before they shot themselves.

Columbine, Colorado, 4/20/1999: 12 students and one teacher, as well as both of the perpetrators, died. But it could have been so much worse; a school resource officer fired at the perps, causing them to abandon their plans for even greater carnage – more shootings, plus bombs – and retreat to the library, where they killed themselves. The SWAT team entered the building four hours later. In addition to all the useless prattle about gun control, the incident started police along the way to realizing that resisting mass shooters was the key to ending the incidents. They often omit that “the shooter has a badge” doesn’t matter to the murderer; just the gun. Which is, of course, why this page exists.

Wurst

Edinboro, Pennsylania, 4/24/98: 14 year old Andrew Wurst shot and killed a teacher and wounded another as well as two students at a middle school dance, and appeared to be looking to shoot more when James Strand, owner of the banquet hall where the middle school, apprehended him with his shotgun.